There’s no denying that Draymond Green has been a crucial part of the Warriors success over the last few seasons, both from a production standpoint and as the team’s emotional and vocal leader. Green’s unique passion is irrevocably tied into what makes him so uniquely effective as a player, and is often a catalyst for the Warriors success, but can also lead to conflicts that have hurt both Green and the team on and off the court.
An excellent piece released Wednesday morning by ESPN’s Ethan Strauss details some of the tension that finally started to boil over between Green and the Warriors during their magical 73-win season last year. Most notably, Strauss reports that Green constantly berated his teammates during games and practices, under the “guise of motivation”, and frequently had to be separated.
“Draymond f—ed up practice and s—,” former Warriors center Marreese Speights is quoted as saying. “Draymond’s a good guy, but I think at the end of the day, it hurt the whole chemistry of the year.”
Ironically, the Warriors; seemingly most relaxed player often got the worst of it, with Speights saying that Klay Thompson was the most frequent victim of Green’s tirades.
“Draymond and Klay got into it a lot.”
Speights has seemingly denied making the comments, posting a series of tweets shortly after the story was released.
The downside of Green’s heart-on-his-sleeve demeanor first became a cause for concern last season during a halftime locker room tirade on Feb. 27 in Oklahoma City, where an incensed Green screamed at head coach Steve Kerr so loudly it could be heard clearly throughout the arena.
Believing that Kerr’s coaching was affecting his confidence shooting the ball, Green lost it, and when told to sit down by Kerr reportedly responded, “Motherf—er, come sit me down!” Green later had to be pulled away by his teammates as he approached Kerr to confront him.
The incident was a first of a multitude of events that showed Green’s inability to keep his cool, with the most notable moment taking place in Game 4 of the NBA Finals when Green, already on thin ice from previous incidents, took a swipe at LeBron James’ nether regions, earning a suspension for a possible series-clinching Game 5 in Oakland, that proved to be the first of three consecutive losses.
Green continued his questionable antics this summer, getting arrested for assaulting a college student at a bar in East Lansing and then making headlines for accidentally making a picture of his penis public on Snapchat.
Green is also coming off his best season from a production standpoint, started in the All-Star game last year and remains a triple-double threat every time he steps onto the court. Both the Warriors and Green will have to come up with a way to control and channel his emotions, without stifling them. If they don’t, as one NBA team executive says,
“He’s what will ultimately prevent them from having long-term success.”
